Sept. 5, 2024

This paid piece is sponsored by Alternative HR.

When you are trying to hire staff and you are located in the tightest job market in the country, you have to step up your game.

That’s according to Gail Anderson, human resources senior consultant and operations coordinator with Alternative HR in Sioux Falls. She also is a talent acquisition specialist with the company.

Alternative HR provides outsourced HR services, including fractional HR, throughout the Midwest, but according to Anderson, “Recruiting assistance is one of the most common calls we get.”

“So many employers in our area still use a ‘post and pray’ strategy,” Anderson said. “Post an open position and pray they can find a suitable applicant.”

Anderson has been in the talent acquisition and HR profession for 24 years, including six years in manufacturing, 14 years in staffing as a regional manager for a staffing agency and four years with Alternative HR.

“There’s a lot more to it than post jobs and screen applicants,” she said. “Our goal is to help our clients turn their recruiting struggles into workforce strategies that create a pipeline for great talent when they have a need.”

Her objective is to look for the right candidate — not just a body to fill a space.

“Our clients make the hiring decisions, but we can do all the preliminary work for them to assure they get the right fit. And, we bill by the hour, so there is no large direct hire fee.”

Tasia Dass also is an HR consultant with Alternative HR. She joined the firm earlier this year after spending several years as a corporate recruitment manager in the energy industry.

For most employers, Dass explained, recruiting and hiring is a reaction to losing someone rather than a planned strategy to strengthen their team. “They immediately go on defense, and that puts them off balance. We help our clients play offense by designing recruiting strategies that give them an edge.”

The two talent acquisition experts are preparing for an upcoming “Friday the 13th” webinar in September called Recruiting Nightmares and Antidotes. They will be discussing some of their recruiting tips and strategies, and answering questions from webinar participants.

“Every employer has a recruiting nightmare or horror story,” said Dass, who is a senior certified HR professional. “And most of those stories happen because of shortcuts taken in the hiring process. They don’t have the patience to wait for the right candidate.”

Many employers are so eager to fill a position that they have incomplete interviews and don’t do proper screening, according to Anderson.

“It becomes more important to have a body in that role than to fill the job with the right person,” she said.

Dass added that “the biggest misstep is not having a system in place.” There are many pieces to a recruitment system that go beyond posting jobs, reviewing resumes and interviewing candidates.

Some of the examples of ways these two recruiting experts assist their clients include:

• Look beyond immediate openings and forecast future needs. Take your three-to-five-year history, and plot out the next three-to-five-year hiring plan.
• Start engaging in continuous recruitment – just like you engage in continuous marketing – to get candidates in the pipeline.
• After creating that talent pipeline, build relationships with potential candidates. That way when you have an opening, you already have candidates to consider.
• Know your “employer brand” reputation, and enhance it – or fix it. Just as employers have a reputation regarding their products and services, they have a reputation as an employer that hopefully will attract strong candidates.
• Invest in employee development. Giving opportunities for growth and learning not only improves retention but also makes a positive impact in your reputation.

Anderson and Dass also offered insight into competition in the recruiting industry. They explained that there are numerous employment agencies, headhunters, direct-hire recruiters, temp agencies, as well as all of the do-it-yourself recruiters.

“Our Alternative HR advantage is that we help you create recruiting strategies rather than quick fixes. We do things other recruiters don’t,” Anderson said, explaining how she and other consultants in the firm work to understand the job responsibilities, the culture, the interactions and the overall fit.

“We hire as though we would be hiring that individual for our own organization,” Dass added. “Our priority is to make the right hire for the client.” She also added, “We do not receive commission, so there are no conflicting motivators in the process for us.”

According to the Department of Labor, 80 percent of turnover can be attributed to breakdowns in the hiring process.

“A bad hire is worse than no hire,” Anderson said. “So many times, hiring managers are under pressure to fill positions, so they skip steps.”

Those skipped steps include posting positions without first reviewing job needs, not clearly communicating job expectations, not training managers who interview candidates, not checking references and not conducting background checks.

“We work to become partners with our clients. We get to know their organization so we can help them make the right hire,” Dass explained.

Whether helping to hire an executive director, CFO, receptionist or laborer, Anderson explained that she guides her clients through all of the preliminary steps and also through the screening and negotiating phases of the process.

“That way when we find the right person, we can act quickly,” she said.

Dass added some thoughts about keeping candidates engaged.

“Communicating with candidates is the best way to keep them interested. Once communication slips, there are plenty of other organizations ready to snatch up those candidates,” she said.

Referencing the upcoming webinar, Recruiting Nightmares and Antidotes, Dass explained: “We don’t want our clients losing sleep or having nightmares! Our job is help them avoid that.”

If interested, here is the link to register for the Sept. 13 webinar.

To find out more about Alternative HR services and solutions, go to the website at alternativehr.com or call 605-335-8198.